Friday, August 04, 2006

Art Class, the Pool

I love Lincoln Square. It's one of my favorite city neighborhoods. We were there this morning while The Boy went to his art class at the Old Town School. While he checked out his tie-dye and painted, The Girl and I got a Mocha Frappucino (me), Horizon Vanilla Milk (her) and a bagel and wandered down Lincoln Avenue for awhile. I had intended to go to Giddings Plaza, which seems to be where all the moms with small children gather, but I didn't bring a stroller and The Girl wanted to walk. She wandered into Her Secret Closet (great second-hand clothes if you are a size-2), and I wandered into the The Dressing Room (trendy, but also targets moms) and unsuccessfully tried on clothes. TDR is opening up a new clothing store of kids called City Mouse in the old hardware store by the El tracks on August 14th. I'm excited about that, although a bunch of little boutiques selling varying levels of kidgear have opened in the past year in Lincoln Square.

When we picked up The Boy at 11:45, his teacher said that although he is one of only 2 boys in the class, he is the chattiest one, providing commentary and asking questions all the way through the class.

Later, after The Girl napped, I brought both kids to the water playground at Portage Park again. We've gone during the pool's 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. time slot every day, arriving just after the 5 p.m. staff change, and that has worked out well for us in terms of waiting and access to the water. Although I would think it would be the busiest time of day when parents would come with their kids after work, I haven't found that to be the case. It's actually pretty empty and calm then due to the fact that it's rush hour and before dinner time. The perfect time to go with two small children without a back-up. The Boy frolicked and splashed around; The Girl was more timid and more interested in watching the occupants of the large pool on the other side of the gate.

Afterward, we stopped at Cody's Hot Dog stand to get a couple of dogs and some Gatorade for dinner.